Seed broadcasting apparatus



g- 24, 1954 D. J. AUSTERMILLER 2,587,307

SEED BROADCASTING APPARATUS Filed Jan. 22, 1953 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR Donald JA mtemuZkr BY fiwmg My ATTORNEYS 4, 1954 0. J.AUSTERMILLER 2,687,307

SEED BROADCASTING APPARATUS Filed Jan. 22, 1953 3 Sheets-Sheet 3INVENTOR.

DonaldJAustermiMer BY M9 Mf 1477' ORNEYS' Patented Aug. 24, 1954 UNITEDSTATES. PATENT OFFICE SEED BROADCASTING APPARATUS Donald J.Austermiller, Napoleon, Ohio Application January 22, 1953, Serial No.332,613

The invention relatesto apparatus for sowing seeds by the broadcastingmethod.

The apparatus consists essentially of a hopper having seed outlets atthe bottom thereof for discharging seeds into the path of vanes carriedby a rotating disc which scatter the seeds laterally so that they aremore or less evenly distributed on the ground. Devices of this generaltype and for this purpose are not broadly new.

' My invention consists in certain improvements in such devices whichenable improved results to be obtained.

Among the objects of my invention are to provide apparatus for thispurpose having feed means for feeding seeds from a hopper to adistributing vane assembly which assures uniform feed at the desiredrate with uniform distribution in the seeds in controlled patterns overthe ground without drifting of the seeds in a breeze or light wind,which permits changes in the rate of feed of seeds without substantialchanges in the feed patterns, which can be mounted on the front or rearof a tractor or other vehicle quickly without use of special tools,which provides for remote control of the seed feed cut-off, which can bestored easily in a manner to protect the moving elements from damage,which is provided with an independently controlled motor for driving thedistributing vane assembly and which, therefore, enables the feed of theseeds to be independent of the speed of the vehicle on which theapparatus is carried, which provides both stepped and micrometeradjustments of the rate of feed of seeds, and which is of simple,compact and sturdy construction.

The foregoing and other objects and advantages of my invention may beunderstood by referring to the following detailed description havingreference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is a side elevational view showing the apparatus of theinvention mounted on the front of a tractor; I

Figure 2 is a front elevational view of the lower portion of theapparatus;

Figure 3 is a horizontal sectional view taken in the direction of thearrows along the line 3-3 of Figure 2;

v Figure 4 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view taken in thedirection of the arrows along the line 4-4 of Figure 3;

Figure 5 is a horizontal sectional view taken in the direction of thearrows along the line 5-5 of Figure 2;

Figure 6 is a fragmentary sectional view taken 5 Claims. (01. 275-8)other vehicle.

in the direction of the arrows along the line 6-6 of Figure 5;

Figure '7 is a vertical sectional view taken in the direction of thearrows along the line 1-1 of Figure 3; and

Figure 8 is a horizontal sectional View taken in the direction of thearrows along the line 88 of Figure 7.

The hopper is designated generally by the reference numeral 9 andconsists of a front wall Ill, a rear wall II, sidewalls I2 and I3 whichtaper inwardly at I2a and HM, and a flat, bottom portion I4. The bottomportion I4 and the sides I2 and I3 are preferably provided with edgeflanges I5 which may be welded or otherwise secured to the front andrear walls I 0 and I l.

A reenforcing bar l6 extends the full length of the bottom portion I4. Abolt II extends through the bottom portion I4 and through thereenforcing bar It and is used to connect the apparatus to a front drawbar I8 on a tractor or The apparatus is shown attached in advance of thefront bumper I9 of a tractor, designated generally by the referencenumeral 20. As illustrated, the bottom of the hopper is positioned belowthe radiator portion of the tractor. This arrangement prevents seedsfrom lodging in the radiator. It will be apparent, however, that theapparatus may be mounted in other positions on a tractor or that it maybe mounted on a truck, cultivator, or other agricultural implement.

A pair of horizontally and laterally spaced seed outlets 2! and 22extend through the bottom portion I4 of the hopper and through thereenforcing bar IS. A vertical bolt 23, having'a head 24 and a nut 25,extends through the bottom portion of the hopper and through thereenforcing bar l6 between and equally spaced from the seed outlets 2!and 22. An orifice plate 26 is pivotally mounted on the bolt 23 beneaththe reenforcing bar I 6. A metering plate 2'! is also pivotally mountedon the bolt 23 beneath the orifice plate 26. A compression spring member28 is positioned between the bottom portion M of the hopper and the nut25, and this spring member serves to yieldably urge the orifice plateand the metering plate toward the lower surface of the reenforcing barIt.

The orifice plate 26 is provided with two pairs seed outlets. Theorifice plate 26 is retained in position with a selected pair oforifices in alignment with the seed outlets by means of a shouldermember 33 which is secured to the lower surface of the reenforcing barIii by means of bolts 34. The shoulder member 33 provides a shoulder 35which is positioned to engage an edge of the orifice plate 26. Thisarrangement is best shown in Figure 4 of the drawings in which theorifices 29 and 30 are shown in alignment with the seed outlets 2| and22. The orifice plate may be moved to align the orifices 3| and 32 withthe seed outlets by pulling the metering plate 25 and the orifice plate23 downwardly against the action of the spring member 28. The edge ofthe orifice plate 26 will then clear the shoulder 35 to permit rotationof the orifice plate through ninety degrees, whereupon a difierent edgeof the orifice plate will engage the shoulder 35.

The metering plate 2'! is provided with a pair of apertures '35 and '31which are preferably of the same diameter as the seed outlets 2| and 22and which are equally spaced from the bolt 23 so as to be capable ofalignment with the seed outlets. A pair of short spouts 38 and 39 extenddownwardly from the apertures 35 and 31 and terminate slightly above thedistributing vane assembly hereinafter described.

The metering plate is arranged to be pivoted on the bolt 23 to vary theextent of overlapping of the apertures 36 and 31 with those orifices ofthe orifice plate which are aligned with the seed outlets 2| and 22. Theinvention provides micrometer adjustment of the pivotal movement of themetering plate 21. An arm is is secured to the spout 39 and a nut 4| isrotatably mounted in the arm 40. A micrometer screw 42 is threaded intothe nut 4|. The opposite end of the micrometer screw 42 extends throughan L -shaped bracket 43 which is secured to the hopper by means of oneof the bolts 35. The micrometer screw 42 is bent at 44 to provide stopmeans engaging the bracket 43. The screw 42 is also bent at 45 toprovide a crank handle 45. A tension spring member 41 has one of itsends connected to the arm 46 while its opposite end is connected to abracket 48 secured to the reenforcing bar l6 by means of a pair of bolts49 and 50. The spring member 41 tends to retain the metering plate 21 inthe full line position shown in Figure 3, in which position theapertures 38 and 3'! are in alignment with the'seed outlets 2| and 22.It will be apparent that rotation of the micrometer screw 42 in aclockwise direction will cause the metering plate 2? to rotate or pivotslightly in the direction of the arrow thereby reducing the extent ofoverlapping of the apertures 36 and '3! with the seed outlets 2| and 22.In this manner the rate of feed. of seeds can be controlled in aninfinitely variable manner.

The metering plate 2! can also be used to completely cut off the feed ofseeds by further rotation of the metering plate in the direction of thearrow 5| to position 2'! shown by dot-dash lines in Figure 3. Theinvention provides a hexible cord 52 for this purpose. The cord 52 issecured to the metering plate 2? by means of a clip 53. The opposite endof the cord 52 is secured to the upper end of a lever 54. When the lever54 is in the position shown in Figure l, the metering plate 2'! willhave been rotated in the direction of the arrow 5| to an extent tocompletely close the seed outlets 2i and 22. This position of themetering plate is shown in dotdash lines in Figure 3. The lever 54 canbe pivoted forwardly on its mounting bracket 55 to permit the springmember to return the metering plate 21 to its position of adjustment asdetermined by the micrometer screw 42. It will be apparent that themicrometer screw i2 is capable of sliding movement through the bracket43 during the opening and closing movement of the metering plate bymeans of the cord 52. The mounting bracket 55 can be mounted on thetractor or other implement in any position conveniently accessible tothe operator.

A motor mounting plate 56 is mounted on the bolts 49 and 533 and ismaintained in vertically spaced relationship to the reenforcing bar l8by means of spacer sleeves 51 and 58. The motor mounting plate 58 isparallel to the bottom portion M of the hopper. A rotary motor 59 ismounted on the forward end of the mounting plate 5%. The motor 59 ispreferably an electric motor operable by current from the battery of thetractor to which the motor is connected by means of wires (5%. Thevertical shaft ill of the motor has secured to its upper end adistributing vane assembly, which is best illustrated in Figures 5 and'6 of the drawings. This vane assembly is designated generally by thereference numeral '62. It consists of a fiat disc 33 which is secured tothe upper end of the motor shaft -61 by means of a nut 64. A pluralityof generally outwardly extending vanes 65 are secured to the uppersurface of the disc 63. The vanes have a disc engaging portion 55, avertical seed "throwing portion 61, and an upper lip portion 68. Thisarrangement is best shown in Figure 6. The vanes do not lie on trulyradial lines on the disc '63. The dot-dash line 69 (Figure 5) connectsthe outer end of the seed engaging portion 6? of one of the vanes 35with the axis of the motor shaft '6 i. It will be seen that the innerend of the seed engaging portion 57 of the vane lies somewhat behindthis radial line, it being assumed that the disc rotates in thedirection of the arrow 10. It has been found that this arrangement ofthe vanes is important to the securing of the seed distribution patternshereinafter described.

Reference is now made to Figure 8 of the drawings. The motor '59 causesthe disc 53 to rotate in the direction of the arrow 70. The orificeplate 26 is shown in a position to align the larger pair of apertures 29and 30 with the seed outlets 2| and 22. The metering plate 21 isillustrated in a position in which the apertures 36 and 37 are inalignment with the seed outlets. Under these circumstances, the patternsof seed distribution will be approximately as shown by the dot-dashlines H and 12. These are the desired seed patterns in that the seedsare distributed laterally rather than onto the tractor or otherimplement. The adjustment of the rate of feed of seeds is accomplishedby pivoting the metering plate 21 in the direction of the arrow 5| bymeans of the micrometer screw 12. This direction of pivotal movement ofthe metering plate 21, which is opposite to the direction of rotation ofthe disc 63, has been found to be of great importance in maintaining thedesired seed patterns 'H and 12. When the metering plate is moved in thedirection of the arrow 5|, the points of deposit of the seeds on thedistributing vane assembly 62 are moved in a direction opposite to thedirection of rotation of the distributing vane assembly. In other words,the spouts 38 and 39 will be moved to the positions shown in the dottedlines in Figure 8. If the crometer screw 42.

metering plate 21 were rotated in'the opposite direction to reduce therate of feed of seeds, the distribution pattern would be somewhat asshown by the dotted lines 13 and 14, which would be undesirable. It maybe that the speed of the motor increases somewhat when the rate of feedof seeds is reduced and this is perhaps the explanation of the necessityfor rotating the metering disc 21 in a direction opposite to thedirection of rotation of the distributing vane assembly 62 when reducingthe rate of feed.

There are other factors which are critical to the successful operationof the device. The speed of rotation of the distributing vane assembly02 is critical, and I have found that speeds of 2,000 to 2,500revolutions per minute as satisfactory. The dimentions of the vanes 65are also critical. It is essential that the seeds be engaged by the seedengaging portions 6''! of the vanes before the seeds fall onto the uppersurface of the disc 03. The seed engaging portions 61 of the vanes 65are preferably 4 inch in height, and the lip portion 68 is preferablyinch in length as viewed in transverse cross section. The lower ends ofthe spouts 38 and 39 are positioned not more than 4 inch above the uppersurface of the lips 68 of the vanes. I have secured satisfactory resultsby using a disc 63 having a diameter of 7 inches, and with such a discthe inner end of the portion 61 of each vane 65 will lie approximately 4inch rearwardly of the line 69 (Figure 5).

The apparatus of the invention can be easily and quickly attached to atractor or an agricultural implement by means of the single bolt i1.When an appropriate adjustment of the micrometer screw 42 has been made,the apparatus will distribute seeds at a uniform rate. The feed of seedscan be entirely cut off by pivoting the lever 54 rearwardly, as shown inFigure l, which causes the metering plate 2'! to move from the full lineposition, shown in Figure 3, to the dot-dash line position 2'! shown inthat figure. Forward movement of the lever 54 permits the spring member4'! to return the metering plate 21 to its original position ofadjustment as determined by the mi- This remote control of the seed feedcut-off is advantageous to the operator. The device can be removed froma tractor or other implement and stored on a shelf in inverted positionto prevent injury to the motor or other elements of the apparatus.

I have illustrated and described what I consider to be the preferredembodiment of the invention. It will be understood, however, thatvarious modifications may be made without departing from the broaderscope of the invention as described by the following claims.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. A seed broadcasting device comp-rising a hopper having a flathorizontal bottom portion, a pair of horizontally spaced seed outlets insaid bottom portion, a bolt extending verticallyv through said bottomportion between said seed engages said bottom portion, a compressionspring member on said bolt urging said metering plate and said orificeplate toward said bottom portion, said spring'member being yieldable forseparation of said orifice plate from said bottom portion and saidshoulder to permit rotation of said orifice plate about said bolt, and aplurality of Pairs of orifices in said orifice plate, said pairs oforifices being positioned to cause a selected pair of orifices to alignwith said seed outlets when a selected edge of said metering platecontacts said shoulder.

2. A seed broadcasting device comprising a hopper having a fiathorizontal bottom portion, a pair of horizontally spaced seed outlets insaid bottom portion, a bolt extending vertically through said bottomportion between said seed outlets, a metering plate pivotally supportedon said bolt below said bottom portion, an orifice plate pivotallymounted on said bolt between said bottom portion and said meteringplate, said orifice plate having a plurality of pairs of orifices ofdifferent diameters therein, means for retaining said orifice plate inselected positions with a selected pair of said orifices in alignmentwith said seed outlets, apertures in said metering plate in alignmentwith said seed outlets, a rotary motor having a vertical shaft inalignment with said bolt, a distributing vane assembly fixed to saidshaft below said metering plate, said vane assembly comprising aplurality of straight vanes extending horizontally from said shaft, theinner end of each vane being disposed rearwardly of a radial line fromthe outer end of the vane to said shaft and means for pivotally movingsaid metering plate in a direction opposite to the direction of rotationof said vane assembly to reduce the rate of feed of seeds to such vaneassembly.

3. A seed broadcasting device comprising a hopper having a fiathorizontal bottom portion, a pair of horizontally spaced seed outletsinsaid bottom portion, a bolt extending vertically through said bottomportion between said seed outlets, a metering plate pivotally supportedon said bolt below said bottom portion, an orifice plate pivotallymounted on said bolt between said bottom portion and said meteringplate, said orifice plate having a plurality of pairs of orificestherein, means for retaining said orifice plate in selected pivotalpositions with a selected pair of said orifices in alignment with saidseed outlets, apertures in said metering plate in alignment with saidseed outlets, a rotary motor having a vertical shaft below and inalignment with said bolt, a distributing vane assembly fixed to saidshaft below said metering plate, and means for pivoting said meteringplate in a direction opposite to the direction of rotation of said vaneassembly to reduce the extent of overlapping of said apertures and saidorifices to thereby reduce the rate of seed feed to said vane assemblyand to shift the points of deposit of such reduced seed feed onto saidvane assembly in a direction opposite to the direction of rotation ofsuch assembly.

4. A seed broadcasting device comprising a hopper having a flathorizontal bottom portion, a pair of horizontally spaced seed outlets insaid bottom portion, a bolt extending vertically through said bottomportion between said seed outlets, a metering plate pivotally supportedon said bolt below said bottom portion, an orifice plate pivotallymounted on said bolt between said bottom portion and said meteringplate, said orifice plate having a plurality of pairs of orificestherein, means for retaining said orifice plate in selected positionswith a selected pair of said orifices in alignment with saidseedoutiets, apertures insaid metering plate in alignment with said seedoutlets, a bracket on said hopper, a nut on said metering plate, amicrometer screw extending through said bracket, said micrometer 5 screwthreadedly engaging said nut and being provided with stop means engagingsaid bracket, whereby rotation of said screw efiects adjustment of saidmetering plate to control the rate of feed of seeds.

5. Apparatus as defined by claim 4 in which said stop means on saidscrew is on the side of said bracket remote from said nut, a springmember urging said metering plate into position to cause said step meansto engage said bracket, and means for moving said metering plate againstthe action of said spring member to a position in which the meteringplate completely closes said orifices to cut off the feed of seeds.

References Cited in the me of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS NumberRittenhouse Mar. 24, 1953

